El Toro Football Coach Johnson Resigns : High schools: He says the move is made so he can spend weekends watching his sons play in college.

Bob Johnson, one of the most successful football coaches in the Southern Section for the past 13 years, announced his resignation Tuesday at El Toro High School.

Johnson’s teams compiled a 119-45 record and won six league and three Southern Section titles. El Toro also qualified for the playoffs 13 consecutive years.

Johnson, 45, said his desire to support and watch his sons Bret and Rob, both of whom played for him at El Toro, compete in college was the reason for his decision. Bret Johnson is a quarterback at Michigan State, having transferred from UCLA after losing the starting job this season; and Rob, a senior at El Toro, is a highly-recruited quarterback who has not yet made a college commitment.

“I’m not burned out, and there’s nothing I enjoy more than coaching kids,” said Johnson, who will continue to teach physical education at El Toro. “But I’ve followed both of my sons’ athletic careers since they were youngsters, and I want to watch them play college football.

“I don’t want to be coaching at Muirlands and La Paz (Mission Viejo High) while Bret is playing in South Bend, Indiana. I’ve always been there for my kids, so it’s time to put my profession on hold.”

Johnson was hired at El Toro in 1978 after serving as an assistant at Los Amigos and built the program into one strongest in Orange County. El Toro finished in a three-way tie for first in the Sea View League in Johnson’s third season and won the league championship from 1980 to ’82. El Toro won the Central Conference title in 1982.

El Toro’s Southern Conference championship team finished 14-0 in 1986. El Toro also won the Southern Conference title in 1987.

“These are important times in my sons’ lives, and (Johnson’s wife) Debbie and I made a decision to support our sons,” Johnson said. “We’ll be traveling, tailgating and enjoying the games as fans for a change.”